Westmont杂志 爱在哪里?

作者:Steve L. 马丁基督教与文化研究所高级研究员兼执行主任

在每个人的心中，除了上帝形的真空之外，在每一次人际交往中，都存在着爱形的缺失. 事实上，基督教传统认为，爱的缺陷来自于神的真空. 我们人类不能一直好好爱别人，因为我们一直不能让上帝的爱充满我们. 我们不仅因为他先爱我们而爱(约翰一书4:19)——当我们把自己从他的爱中移开时，我们就失去了爱. 作为圣. Augustine of Hippo famously put it, “You have formed us for yourself, 和 our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.”1

在保罗为以弗所人祷告的最后恳求中出现了一个奇怪的短语(以弗所书3:14-19). 他祷告以弗所的基督徒“被神一切所充满”(19节)。. 充满了神? Does God come in ounces or liters? What amount of God does it take to top-off the human tank? 我们是多么的空虚?

上下文清楚地表明，“神的丰盛”包含了神无限的全部, 活跃的, 神 love for humans — the kind of love that won’t let us go. 爱为我们追求最好的，即使我们渴望或陷入最坏的. Paul prays that the saints in Ephesus would be “rooted 和 grounded” in God’s 神 爱(第17节), 他们会抓住它的“宽、长、高、深”(18节)。, that they would “know the 神 of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (verse 19), that they would be “filled up with all the fullness of God” (verse 19). Notice that each prayerful request refers to the Ephesians’ 持续的接受能力 到上帝对他们的好处的不懈和个人追求的丰富供应-丰满. It’s as though the Ephesians have a depleted love tank, 保罗知道神随时可以将赐生命的同在浇灌在他们里面. 在其他地方，保罗使用的语言是“神的爱借着圣灵倾注在我们心里”(罗马书5:5)。. What would happen — in our lives, in our world — if God’s 神 love filled Christians to the brim?

In one sense, the answer is straightforward. 上帝设计人的心，使之在他的无限中扎根和扎根，才能正常运作, 爱心. Not rooted 和 grounded in the 的想法 that God loves us, but rooted 和 grounded in the 经验的现实 of his love pouring into us by his indwelling Spirit. Without the fullness of God’s divine life in our lives, our hearts become restless, 和 we try to soothe ourselves on our own, 除了他. As the old hymn says, “Prone to w和er, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” The God-shaped vacuum afflicts the Christian as well as the non-Christian. 就像以弗所书一样, 每一个基督徒都需要“被神所充满的一切充满”.” Without the fullness of God’s love flowing through our veins, 我们操作, 谎言, 偷, 猛烈抨击, 欲望, 否认, 避免, hide, 贬低和进入各种其他无用和有害的策略来管理我们的生活远离上帝. Our struggle to receive love leads to our inability to consistently love well. This human predicament shows up daily in our 首页s 和 in the headlines. To the degree a God-shaped emptiness exists in every human heart, a love-shaped deficiency occurs in every human interaction.

最近的一篇文章 大西洋 summarized the results of the longest-running study of human happiness.2自1938年起, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked 724 original participants, their spouses 和 more than 1,300 of their descendants to underst和 what makes up a good life. 是财富、成功、工作满意度、冒险、权力、财产、美貌还是性? The study’s directors state, “It’s the longest in-depth longitudinal study on human life ever done, 它给我们带来了一个简单而深刻的结论:良好的人际关系带来健康和幸福.” St. Augustine would not be surprised. Humans were made in God’s image to enter into the Godhead’s Trinitarian, 无穷无尽的, 永无止境的爱. When we find even a bit of it in relationship with fellow image-bearers, we discover a little of the deep rest we long for.

“每个人心中都有上帝形的真空”这句话是17世纪哲学家的原话, physicist 和 mathematician Blaise Pascal. He writes something far less tweetable but much more profound. 这圣. 保罗和圣. Augustine, Pascal states:

What else does this craving, 这种无助感, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print 和 trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, 在不存在的事物中寻找他在存在的事物中找不到的帮助, 虽然没人能帮上忙, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite 和 immutable object; in other words by God himself.3

我们是多么习惯于——上瘾于——用“不存在的东西”——那些缺乏物质来满足我们不安的渴望的虚幻的东西来填满“无限的深渊”. Yet we return to them time 和 time again. As Henri Nouwen once wrote, “It seems easier to be God than to love God.”4 Or, 正如耶稣所说, “玛莎, 玛莎, you are anxious 和 troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. 马利亚已经选择了那上好的福分，是不能夺去的”(路加福音10:41-42)。. We too feel anxious 和 troubled about many things, 和, 像玛莎, 我们发现，在没有神的情况下处理这些事情，要比和马利亚一起学习如何带着我们的烦恼和焦虑坐在耶稣脚前容易得多.

我们修复的计划, 控制和逃避我们的问题会使我们无法被神的丰盛充满. Not only are we prone to w和er, but we have indeed w和ered. And those w和erings become habituated ways of being in the world. Some of those paths are clearly idolatrous 和 destructive. 其他的偶像似乎更容易被接受，甚至在我们的社会环境中受到称赞和肯定. 要放弃这些根深蒂固的计划，转而亲近上帝，是非常困难的. St. Augustine laments with us, “Oh! How shall I find rest in you? Who will send you into my heart to inebriate it, so that I may forget my woes, 拥抱你, 我唯一的好处?”

Of course, there is a way, 和 he has a name. “Come unto me, all who weary 和 heavy laden,” Jesus says. “你们当负我的轭，学我的样式……这样，你们心里就必得安息”(马太福音11:28), 29). Jesus is the way, the 真理 和 the life. He has sent his Spirit into our hearts, crying out “Abba, Father!(加拉太书4:6). 当我们学会逐渐被神的爱充满时，在他父的国度里与耶稣一起生活的整体方式就会通过圣灵内住而发生. This is the Jesus way, the Jesus 真理, 和 the Jesus life. 我们不断地来到他面前，学习他的生活方式，向他学习如何像他一样.

我非常感谢人们可以来韦斯特蒙特ag娱乐官网学习如何被神的充满所充满. How many other four-year, residential “internships” exist in discipleship to Jesus 和 his way of love? 跟从基督的人发现，很少有地方能让他们长时间地专注于向耶稣和他历代的子民学习如何像他那样生活和爱. 正处于人类发展的关键时期的新成人发现这一点尤其困难. 一门严肃地跟随和学习耶稣的文科课程，帮助威斯蒙特大学的学生在耶稣的爱的方式中获得一种饱和，这是一生中实质性的精神和道德形成所需要的. The college’s faculty, 工作人员, leadership 和 student body intently foster a Christ-centered, formational environment for the Westmont community.

Music has a way of coming back around. The Black Eyed Peas 2003 song “爱在哪里?，最初是为了回应9/11事件而写的. It popped up on one of my teenager’s playlists, 和 after I got over the nostalgia of the beat, I started listening to the words.

北美文化以及世界上许多其他社会的呼声是可以理解的, “爱在哪里??” Not just any love, but that sturdy, unlimited, 神 love found in Jesus. Of course, the world needs this love now — 和 has always needed it. 把爱的上帝从人类生活和文化中剔除，就会造成关怀的真空, 生命的, healing engagement with one another throughout the world. Followers of Jesus need to be ready for such a time as this. As culture asks for guidance from above, we must model 和 hold forth the Jesus way, 真理, 和 life as a reliable pathway of becoming persons pervaded by love. Dallas Willard writes, “(基督教)需要澄清并举例说明人类转变的现实方法. 它必须展示今天构成人类的普通人可以成为什么样的人, through the grace of Christ, 充满爱, 有效的, 和 powerful community.”5

当耶稣差他的门徒到普天之下去跟从他的时候, teaching them to do all that he comm和ed, 他承诺, ”,看哪, 我永远和你在一起, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Apprentices of Jesus 和 his way know where the love is. His love is with us always. 就像以弗所书一样, 我们从耶稣那里学习如何被神所有的丰盛充满，这样基督的爱就会在我们里面，通过我们来满足我们周围人绝望的需要.